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Octavio flexed the fingers of his hand. [color=dde0c7]“What, don’t tell me you fell for such low-grade tricks of mine.”[/color] With an unnecessary snap of his fingers a white sheen blanketed his cornea. [color=dde0c7]“Our magic’s smothered, not extinguished, and there’s a lot you can do with the smoke.”[/color] The illusion centered on such a small part of his body dissipated with the words. 

It was a relief to have Karina of all people stride in. Tayla seemed to be talented at stabbing things until they stopped breathing, his own talents more focused in the verbal arts, so Karina would make an excellent third to round out their extremes, not counting the familiars. She spoke with a different tone of voice, clearly affected by recent events. He couldn’t blame her. In mere moments a petition for help had turned into a fight for their lives. 

[color=dde0c7]“Walking in the dark, having the numbers unfavorably against us…”[/color] he sighed at Karina’s words. [color=dde0c7]“Just once I’d love for us to be the ones orchestrating the cheap shots first.”[/color]

He wiped his knife clean with a bedsheet, no longer interested in its original purpose. Regroup, fight back. She definitely had a military background. [color=dde0c7]“I can improvise the odd parlor trick here or there, but the magic I’m running on is quite tragically as suppressed as everybody else’s. The silver lining is I can reuse the little eye stunt since the ones it worked on are dead.”[/color] A dry smile cracked his face. [color=dde0c7]“Like telling the same joke to a different group of friends! You can count on me in that sense, most definitely!”[/color]

Another member joined their group, albeit with far less manners. She seemed to consider herself a “good” person, her words painting her as someone attempting to save them. But there was an undercurrent present. One he’d noted with Svephraey and just about every other power-hungry lunatic they’d encountered. Her casual use of the term “pactmaker”, her blasé consideration of just killing them all. Still, at least she was direct about it. Octavio broke into a jog as she left, along with the rest of their ragtag group. 

[color=dde0c7]“I suppose we don’t have much of a choice.”[/color]

Karina volleyed her own questions first. Her ship of thought was scrutinizing, far-reaching. 

[color=dde0c7]“She mentioned shattering it by killing us, to be precise. That leaves us with the unfortunate implication that death is our only way out of this little mess.”[/color] He shook his head, then added his own question into the mix. [color=dde0c7]“This escape of yours would be far simpler had you already freed us of these devices. When do you intend to do that, exactly?”[/color] The words came out sweet, but their edge wasn’t hidden.